Oil Futures Sink As Trump Rekindles Trade Tensions
October 13, 2025
DOW Sharpest Drop Since May
October 14, 2025By Sukriti Gupta and Twesha Dikshit
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
- Summary
- Companies
- Futures up: Dow 0.80%, S&P 500 1.13%, Nasdaq 1.72%
- JPMorgan rises on unveiling $1.5 trillion investment plan
- Rocket Lab climbs after Morgan Stanley raises PT to Street-high
Oct 13 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes were poised for a higher open on Monday following Friday’s pullback, as investors returned to risk assets after President Donald Trump’s softer tone eased concerns over renewed U.S.-China trade tensions.
Aiding sentiment, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network on Monday that Trump was on track to meet his Chinese counterpart in South Korea as the two sides de-escalate tensions over trade disputes.
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Trade tensions flared up last week after China expanded its rare earth export controls. In response, Trump on Friday said he would impose an additional 100% tariff on China’s U.S.-bound exports, along with new export controls on critical U.S.-made software.
The revived trade tensions sent the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, both previously on track to register weekly gains, to suffer their steepest weekly declines in months.
However, in a more conciliatory tone over the weekend, Trump posted that “it will all be fine” and the U.S. did not want to “hurt” China.
China on Sunday blamed the U.S. for the escalation. However, Beijing did not roll out further countermeasures.
“The combination of earnings, Israel and the peace and that some sort of deal will be eventually ironed out with China in terms of trade should be a cushion for the market,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.
In the Middle East, Hamas handed over the first group of the last surviving Israeli hostages, a key step in ending two years of devastating conflict in Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal pushed by Trump.
At 8:26 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 366 points, or 0.8%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 74.75 points, or 1.13%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 419.5 points, or 1.72%.
Investor focus is also on the earnings season that kicks off this week with major U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab, Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab, Citigroup (C.N), opens new tab, and Wells Fargo (WFC.N), opens new tab set to release quarterly results on Tuesday.
Third-quarter S&P 500 earnings growth is expected to be 8.8% year-on-year, compared with annual growth of 13.8% in the last quarter, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data.
The season will be a crucial litmus test for U.S. stock markets and provide fresh clues on the economy at a time when major official data releases remain delayed due to a government shutdown that is currently in its 13th day.
In premarket trading, shares of “Magnificent Seven” companies rose following Friday’s pullback. Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab was up 2.8%, while Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab gained 2.5%.
JPMorgan (JPM.N), opens new tab rose 1.2% after unveiling a $1.5 trillion strategic investment plan.
Oracle (ORCL.N), opens new tab gained 1.7% after at least two brokerages raised their price target on the AI cloud firm.
The AI-driven momentum and optimism around U.S. rate cuts have helped markets in the recent months.
Estee Lauder (EL.N), opens new tab advanced 4.6% after a Goldman Sachs rating upgrade, while Rocket Lab (RKLB.O), opens new tab shares added 6.8% as Morgan Stanley raised its PT to a Wall Street high.
Reporting by Sukriti Gupta and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel
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